Vortex pickup device



Juiy 18, 1967 B. w. FOSTER 3,331,091

VORTEX PICKUP DEVICE Filed Oct. 7, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 f J g i' .362 I I 7 P 7 A p 5 1 I I z i A iv 1 l 4 a9 .27 \fa aa INVENTOR.

BERRY W FOSTER ATTORNEYS 8, 1967 B. w. FOSTER 3,

VORTEX PICKUP DEVICE Filed Oct. 7, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ray; 5.

INVENTOR. BERRY W. FOSTER BY (7MJI/MAM ATTORNEYS B. W. FOSTER July 18, 1967 VORTEX P I CKUP DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed OO(.. '7, 1965 INVENTOR. BERRY M. FOSTER 0%, WM, 'Z MN ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofilice 3,33L09l Patented July 18, 1367 3,331,091 VORTEX PICKUP DEVICE Berry W. Foster, Santa Monica, Calif. (2415 Thomas Ave, Redondo Beach, Calif.

Filed Oct. 7, 1965, Ser. No. 500,464 14 Claims. (Cl. 15328) This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 322,635, filed Nov. 12, 1963, now Patent No. 3,238,557.

This invention relates to an improved vortex pickup device, which may be used as a vacuum cleaner or as a pressure cleaning device to pick up articles from a surface and carry them away. For example, the invention comprises improvements in home and commercial vacuum cleaners, but the invention is not limited to vacuum cleaners.

One object of the invention is to provide a standard building block for pickup nozzles, so that several nozzles can be easily joined together to make pickups .With various sweeper widths. For example, a standard block may be 6 inches wide for a commercial vacuum or smaller for domestic vacuums. Thus, two of these blocks may be joined together to give a 12-inch width sweep and three standard blocks may be joined together to give an 18-inch sweep. A manifold may be used to connect all of the exhausts of these nozzle pickups to the suction intake of one vacuum pump. Thus, standard building block concept reduces the mass-production cost of the vortex vacuum nozzle, since the production tools to fabricate the standard block cost less than having different tools for different widths of pickup nozzles.

Another object is to provide a pickup nozzle with improved ability to follow the contour of the floor, by connecting standard building blocks with elastic hinges and by providing each block with elastic gaskets.

Another object is to provide a wide intake nozzle pickup having means for alternating its peak suction pickup along its width. Thus, the width at which a vacuum of given power may sweep with one pickup nozzle and have the desired high suction power is increased several times. This shift of peak vacuum along the sweeper width may be accomplished by means of valves on the intake or exhaust for the vortex vacuum.

Another object is to provide the standard building block with two vortex chambers in parallel, so that the width of the block may be doubled with respect to its breadth, giving less total area exposed to the high suction force for a given width. Consequently, the force required to brake the suction of the dual vortex is about onefourth of that for a single chamber with the same width.

The vortex chamber may also be designed as an oval or ellipse to further reduce its width with respect to its breadth, in the standard building block.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for introducing a solvent into the treating current of air, to help cut grease when cleaning floors or carpets, etc. By this same means the floor or rugs may be cleaned as they are vacuumed.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for introducing steam into the intake, to help cut grease when cleaning floors or carpets, etc. By this means the floor or rugs may be steam cleaned as they are vacuumed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of some preferred forms thereof.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a single vortex vacuum pickup head of the type used in an assembly embodying the principles of the invention. The output nozzle may be connected to a vacuum pump, or the intake nozzle may be connected to a positive pressure device.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view in elevation and in section taken along the line 33 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a view in elevation and in section taken along the line 4-4 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 6 of a coupler for fastening two standard pickup nozzle building blocks together so that they can flex relatively to each other. Each nozzle may be of the type shown in FIGS. 1-4.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic sketch of an assembly of several nozzles with means for varying the openings to the different vortex intake nozzles so that the peak suction can be shifted along the sweeper to get a higher suction for a given power, and

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic sketch of a nozzle assembly having a modified means for shifting the peak suction along the sweeper length, by shifting the flow in the exhaust or suction outlet for the vacuum pickup nozzles.

The device of FIGS. 1-4 exemplifies a form of vacuum cleaner head 30 of this invention covered by my US. Patent No. 3,238,557, which resulted from the parent application Ser. No. 322,635, having two oval vortices 31 and 32 side by side (which also may be elliptical) with a common intake 33 and a common outlet 34. A generally rectangular housing 35 is much wider than it is long, for movement fore and aft over a floor in the direction of the arrow of FIG. 1. Depending from a generally flat upper wall 36 are ellipsoidal or oval vertical partitions 37 and 38- that bound the elliptical or oval vortex chambers 31 and 32, which are open at the bottom 39 for the pickup and carrying away of dirt and the like from a carpet, rug, vice may be made from transparent material, such as a transparent plastic, so that the operator may observe its operation, or only the upper wall 36 may be transparent.

Through the single intake bell-mouth 33, the intake air for both of the chambers 31 and 32 may be drawn in by pulling a vacuum on the output nozzle 34, or a forced air stream or forced steam under pressure may be positively blown in through the intake bellmouth 33. Solvents may be included in the intake bellmouth 33 gas stream; a solvent can 60 under pressure may be used to spray a prescribed amount of solvent through the nozzle 61 in the intake bellmouth 33. A cusp 40 in the intake bellmouth 33 divides the intake air into two equal streams, and arcuate walls 41 and 42 divert these two stream through nozzle ducts 43 and 44 into the upper end of the chambers 31 and 32, the walls 41 and 42 blending into the elliptical walls 37 and 38 of the chambers 31 and 32. At this location, the generally flat wall 36 may have a split 50, 51 with the portion on the inlet side pushed down to provide the bottom Wall of the nozzle ducts 42 and 44 and the top wall of the chambers 31 and 32, while the succeeding portion of the wall 36 is tilted up to provide part of the ducts upper walls 45, 46, blending into the upper wall 47 of the intake bellmouth 33, The nozzle ducts 43 and 44 are of relatively flat shape, and are small in cross-sectional area as compared with either the cross section of the elliptical chambers 31 and 32 or the cross section of the intake bellomuth 33.

On the bottom of the vacuum cleaners head 30, the space between the rectangular walls of the housing 35 and the oval walls 37, 38 may be filled by flat partitions 48 that also serve to strengthen the walls 37, 38 and the housing 35.

The outlets from the chambers 31 and 32 are provided partly by a cusp 52 formed by the meeting of curved portions 53 and 54 of the oval walls 37, 38. The cusp 52 lies approximately below the cusp 40 that divides the intake nozzle ducts 43, 44 and each other. The space hefloor, or other surface. The entire detween the cusp 52 and the outlet nozzle 34 is open, and the air is sucked or blown there. The outlet duct 34 widens rapidly from a narrow intake end 56 to its distal end 57 where it connects with a suction hose or other suitable conduit. In some applications such as rug cleaning it may be desirable to have a narrow beam-like plate 58 connecting the bottom of the cusp 52 and the bottom of the outlet duct 34, to prevent the sharp edge of he cusp 52 from digging into a rug, etc.

When suction is applied to the outlet duct 34 or when a positive air or stream pressure is supplied to the intake duct 33, air enters the intake duct 33 (in case solvent cleaning is desired, solvent may be sprayed into the intake duct 33 by the nozzle 61), is divided into two streams, passes through the intake nozzle ducts 43 and 44, enters the upper end of the elliptical chambers 31, 32, and whirls around them at a reduced pressure, because the pressure head has been converted to a velocity head as it expands through the throat of the inlet nozzles 43 and 44. Furthermore, the tilt of the intake nozzle ducts 43, 44 is such that the entering action is smooth, and flow is not interfered with by eddies or other interruptions. In this case the sweep is approximately 300 (however, it may be more or less) around the chambers 31, 32, and then the air passes out through the outlet nozzle 34, carrying with it dirt and other particles which it entrained in its vortex passage and thereby picked up from the surface with which its bottom 39 was in engagement.

I have found by experimental action that approximately a 75 increase in pickup suction is achieved by the structure of FIGS. 1-4 with respect to a regular vacuum cleaner head. The vortex action gives some of the increase in the suction power, and further increase is given by shaping the ejection path as a tangent that widens out, aiding greatly by mixing of the solid particles with the ejected air.

The vortex device may be used to convey liquid or comminuated amterial such as sand, pulverized coal, and so forth through a duct.

The device of FIGS. 1-4 may have circular chambers instead of elliptical chambers. The results are different but not so greatly so that either one is always preferred. There will be instances in which either one will be preferable.

FIG. illustrates the use of a spring hinge means 100 of fastening vacuum sweeper blocks 30 and 30a together, so they will be flexible with respect to each other and follow the contour of the floor. An elastic seal ring 101 may be provided between the blocks 30 and 30a to prevent leakage into the vortex chamber. An elastic seal gasket 102 may be provided around the bottom edge of the vacuum sweeper blocks 30 and 30a to prevent leakage into the vortex chamber.

FIG. 6 illustrates a way of shifting the peak vacuum along the length of a vacuum sweeper. A vacuum sweeper pickup 110 may have three standard vortex blocks 111, 112, and 113 (like the head 30) fastened together by elastic means 100 and connected to a vacuum manifold 114 at their respective exhaust nozzles 115, 116, and 117. The exhaust manifold 114 may connect to a vacuum pipe handle or wand 118, which is connected to a vacuum intake hose 119. Spring-closed and solenoidopened valves 121, 122, and 123 may be provided at the inlet bellmouth for each of the respective vortex blocks 111, 112, 113. An E.M.F. power source 24 may be used to actuate the solenoid valves 121, 122, and 123 through their respective switches 125, 126, and 127. For example, the valve 121. may be opened while valves 122 and 123 are closed. Then the valve 122 may be opened while valves 121. and 123 are closed, and so on. One can manually time these valve openings, or the solenoids may be timed to open by means of an electrical distributor 128 similar to an Otto engine ignition distributor.

FIG. 7 illustrates another way to shift the peak vacuum along the length of a vacuum sweeper. In this method the shifting is done through the exhaust nozzles rather than through the vortex intake nozzle. The shifting means may be used on conventional intake nozzles as well as the vortex vacuum type. The vacuum sweeper pickup 140 may have two standard pickup nozzles 141 and 142, which may be of the conventional type or of the vortex type. The nozzles 141 and 142 may be fastened together by elastic means and connected to the vacuum manifold 143 through exhaust nozzles 144 and 145. The exhaust manifold 143 may be connected to the pipe handle or wand 146, which may be connected to the vacuum intake hose 149. A vibrating valve 147, which may be actuated by a mechanical or electrical means 148, shifts the suction alternately from 144 to 145. Although only two vacuum blocks are shown, more may be provided if desired.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and the description herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

I claim:

1. A vacuum vortex pickup device including in combination a plurality of units, each unit having a housing with a generally horizontal top wall and a pair of vertical walls each defining a generally oval-elliptical periphery, said vertical walls depending from said top wall and lying side by side with the major axis of the oval-ellipse substantially collinear and with said vertical walls meeting at a cusp, inlet means leading tangentially to said periphery, and outlet means leaving through said vertical walls opposite to and in line with said cusp; means joining said units side by side with their said major axes collinear, a manifold connected to the outlet means of each unit, a wand connected to the manifold for connecting the manifold to a source of vacuum, valve means in each said unit between the air entry into said inlet means and said wand for stopping air flow through said unit; and control means for all said valve means for opening only one of said valve means at a time in rapid sequence and cycle.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said means joining,

said units is flexible.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said valve means includes a shut-off valve at each said inlet means.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein said shut-off valve is operated by a solenoid.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein said valve means includes a Y where two of said outlet means meet and a flapper valve for closing one said outlet means at a time.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein said outlet means increases substantially in cross section from an initial portion to a subsequent portion.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein said inlet means is provided with a 'bellmouth ducting between said valve means and said inlet means, said bellmouth decreasing in cross section with smooth contours from said valve to said inlet so that part of the pressure head of the inlet gas is efliciently converted into a velocity head at the inlet.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein said means of joining said units is elastic and there is elastic gasket means between said unit and the surface to be cleaned so said units follow the contour of said surface to be cleaned.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the lower end of said cusp and the lower end of said outlet means are connected by a beam-like plate to prevent the sharp edge of the cusp from damaging the surface being treated by said device.

10. A vacuum pickup device including in combination a plurality of pneumatically independent units collinearly arranged, each unit having intake opening means for air and dirt, outlet means comprising a wand and a common manifold connected to each of the units leading to a source of vacuum; valve means in said outlet means of each unit; and control means for all said valve means for causing air flow through one said unit at a time in rapid sequence and cycle.

11. A vacuum pickup device including at least two similar building block vortex units, each said vortex unit having a housing with pickup means, air intake means, and outlet means, said pickup means having a vortex chamber with a major axis several times its minor axis, a wand connected to said outlet means of each unit through a manifold, means joining said units side by side with their said major axes collinear, valve means in each said vortex unit for interrupting the air flow from said air intake means through said outlet means into said wand, and control means for all said valve means for opening and closing them for causing the surrounding atmosphere and collected particles to flow through one said unit at a time in rapid sequence and cycle.

12. The device of claim 11 said units is flexible.

13. The device of claim 11 wherein said wand is a vacuum line.

wherein said means joining 6 14. The device of claim 11 wherein each said unit has an intake nozzle at said air intake means and means for introducing air and cleaning fluid into the intake nozzle and thence into said vortex chamber to help clean and vacuum the surface at said pickup means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner. 

11. A VACUUM PICKUP DEVICE INCLUDING AT LEAST TWO SIMILAR BUILDING BLOCK VORTEX UNITS, EACH SAID VORTEX UNIT HAVING A HOUSING WITH PICKUP MEANS, AIR INTAKE MEANS, AND OUTLET MEANS, SAID PICKUP MEANS HAVING A VORTEX CHAMBER WITH A MAJOR AXIS SEVERAL TIMES ITS MINOR AXIS, A WAND CONNECTED TO SAID OUTLET MEANS OF EACH UNIT THROUGH A MANIFOLD, MEANS JOINING SAID UNITS SIDE BY SIDE WITH THEIR SAID MAJOR AXES COLLINEAR, VALVE MEANS IN EACH SAID VORTEX UNIT FOR INTERRUPTING THE AIR FLOW FROM SAID AIR INTAKE MEANS THROUGH SAID OUTLET MEANS INTO SAID WAND, AND CONTROL MEANS FOR ALL SAID VALVE MEANS OPENING AND CLOSING THEM FOR CAUSING THE SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERE AND COLLECTED PARTICLES TO FLOW THROUGH ONE SAID UNIT AT A TIME IN RAPID SEQUENCE AND CYCLE. 